No 171. the Fondness of a Lover, and are then fure to meet in their turn with all the Contempt and Scorn that is due to fo infolent a Behaviour. On the contrary, it is very probable a melancholy, dejected Carriage, the ufual Effect of injured Innocence, may foften the jealous Husband into Pity, make him fenfible of the Wrong he does you, and work out of his Mind all thofe Fears and Sufpicions that make you both unhappy. At least it will have this good Effect, that he will keep his Jealousy to himfelf, and repine in private, either because he is fenfible it is a Weaknefs, and will therefore hide it from your Knowledge, or because he will be apt to fear fome ill Effect it may produce, in cooling your Love towards him, or diverting it to another.

THERE is ftill another Secret that can never fail, if you can once get it believ'd, and which is often practis'd by Women of greater Cunning than Virtue: This is, to change Sides for a while with the jealous Man, and to turn his own Paffion upon himself; to take fome Occafion of growing jealous of him, and to follow the Example he himself hath fet you. This counterfeited Jealousy will bring him a great deal of Pleasure, if he thinks it real; for he knows experimentally how much Love goes along with this Paffion, and will befides feel fomething like the Satisfaction of a Revenge, in feeing you undergo all his own Tortures. But this, indeed, is an Artifice fo difficult, and at the fame Time fo difingenuous, that it ought never to be put in Practice, but by fuch as have Skill enough to cover the Deceit, and Innocence to render it excufable.

I fhall conclude this Effay with the Story of Herod and Mariamne, as I have collected it out of Jofephus; which may ferve almost as an Example to whatever can be faid on this Subject.

MA

MARIAMNE had all the Charms that Beauty, Birth, Wit and Youth could give a Woman, and Herod all the Love that fuch Charms are able to raise in a warm and amorous Difpofition. In the midst of this his Fondness for Mariamne, he put her Brother to Death, as he did her Father not many Years after. The Barbarity of the Action was reprefented to Mark Antony, who immediately fummoned Herod into Egypt, to answer for the Crime that was there laid to his Charge. Herod attributed the Summons to Antony's Defire of Mariamne, whom therefore before his Departure, he gave into the Cuftody of his Uncle Jofeph, with private Orders to put her to Death, if any fuch Violence was offer'd to himself. This Jofeph was much delighted with Mariamne's Converfation, and endeavour'd with all his Art and Rhetorick to fet out the Excefs of Herod's Paffion for her; but when he still found her cold and incredulous, he inconfiderately told her, as a certain Inftance of her Lord's Affection, the private Orders he had left behind him, which plainly fhew'd, according to Jofeph's Interpretation, that he could neither live nor die without her. This barbarous Inftance of a wild unreasonable Paffion, quite put out, for a Time, thofe little Remains of Affection fhe ftill had for her Lord: For now her Thoughts were fo wholly taken up with the Cruelty of his Orders, that she could not confider the Kindness that produced them, and therefore reprefented him in her Imagination, rather under the frightful Idea of a Murderer than a Lover. Herod was at length acquitted and difmiffed by Mark Antony, when his Soul was all in Flames for his Mariamne; but before their Meeting, he was not a little alarm'd at the Report he had heard of his Uncle's Converfation and Familiarity with her in his Abfence. This therefore was the firft Difcourfe he entertain'd her

with, in which she found it no eafie Matter to quiet. his Sufpicions. But at last he appear'd fo well fatisfied of her Innocence, that from Reproaches and Wranglings he fell to Tears and Embraces. Both of them wept very tenderly at their Reconciliation, and Herod poured out his whole Soul to her in the warmeft Proteftations of Love and Conftancy; when amidst all his Sighs and Languifhings the ask'd him, whether the private Orders he left with his Uncle Jofeph were an Inftance of fuch an inflamed Affection. The jealous King was immediately roufed at fo unexpected a Question, and concluded his Uncle must have been too familiar with her, before he would have discovered fuch a Secret. In short, he put his Uncle to Death, and very difficultly prevailed upon himfelf to fpare Ma

riamne.

AFTER this he was forced on a fecond Journey into Egypt, when he committed his Lady to the Care of Sobemus, with the fame private Orders he had before given his Uncle, if any Mifchief befel himfelf. In the mean while Mariamne fo won upon Sobemus by her Prefents and obliging Converfation, that he drew all the Secret from him, with which Herod had intrusted him ; so that after his Return, when he flew to her with all the Tranfports of Joy and Love, the received him coldly with Sighs and Tears, and all the Marks of Indifference and Averfion. This Reception fo ftirred up his Indignation, that he had certainly flain her with his own Hands, had not he feared he himself should have become the greater Sufferer by it. It was not long after this, when he had another violent Return of Love upon him; Mariamne was therefore fent for to him, whom he endeavoured to foften and reconcile with all poffible conjugal Careffes and Endearments; but the declin'd his Embraces, and answer'd all his Fondness

with bitter Invectives for the Death of her Father and her Brother. This Behaviour fo incenfed Herod that he very hardly refrain'd from striking her; when in the Heat of their Quarrel there came in a Witness, fuborn'd by fome of Mariamne's Enemies, who accufed her to the King of a Defign to poifon him. Herod was now prepared to hear any Thing in her Prejudice, and immediately ordered her Servant to be ftretch'd upon the Rack; who in the Extremity of his Tortures confeft, that his Mistress's Averfion to the King arose from fomething Sobemus had told her; but as for any Defign of poisoning, he utterly difown'd the least Knowledge of it. This Confeffion quickly proved fatal to Sobemus, who now lay under the fame Sufpicions and Sentence that Jofeph had before him on the like Occafion. Nor would Herod reft here; but accufed her with great Vehemence of a Defign upon his Life, and by his Authority with the Judges had her publickly condemned and executed. Herod foon after her Death grew melancholy and dejected, retiring from the publick Administration of Affairs into a folitary Foreft, and there abandoning himself to all the black Confiderations which naturally arife from a Paffion made up of Love, Remorfe, Pity, and Defpair. He used to rave for his Mariamne, and to call upon her in his distracted Fits; and in all Probability would foon have followed her, had not his Thoughts been feafonably called off from fo fad an Object by Publick Storms, which at that Time very nearly threatned him. L

N° 172.

Monday, September 17.

Non folùm Scientia, quæ eft remota à Juftitia, Calliditas potiùs quàm Sapientia eft appellanda; verùm etiam Animus paratus ad periculum, fi fua cupiditate, non utilitate communi impellitur, Audacia potiùs nomen habeat, quàm Fortitudinis.Plato apud Tull.

THERE can be no greater Injury to humane Society, than that good Talents among Men fhould be held honourable to thofe who are endowed with them, without any Regard how they are applied: The Gifts of Nature and Accomplishments of Art are valuable, but as they are exerted in the Interests of Virtue, or governed by the Rules of Honour. We ought to abstract our Minds from the Obfervation of any Excellence in thofe we converse with, till we have taken fome Notice, or received fome good Information of the Difpofition of their Minds; otherwife the Beauty of their Perfons, or the Charms of their Wit, may make us fond of those whom our Reafon and Judgment will tell us we ought to abhor.

WHEN We fuffer our felves to be thus carried away by meer Beauty, or meer Wit, Omniamante with all her Vice will bear away as much of our Good-will as the most innocent Virgin or difcrecteft Matron; and there cannot be more abject Slavery in this World, than to doat upon what we think we ought to contemn: Yet this must be our Condition in all the Parts of Life, if we fuffer our felves to approve any thing but what tends to the Promotion of what is good and honourable. If we would take true Pains with our felves to confider all Things by the Light of Reason and Justice, tho' a Man were in the Height of Youth and amorous Inclinations, he would look upon a Coquet